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Castle Salinus
By the shores of the Saline Sea where Salt and Water meet a single castle stands in a large air pocket in Salt. Water from the Saline Sea laps at its bottom, forming a barrier of poisonous water (this water causes salt poisoning; submersion deals 2d6 desiccation damage a round, and forces a Fort save against 1d2 Con damage each round; this is not poison and poison immunity does not function against this ability). The area outside of the castle is fully affected by the plane’s dehydrating nature (living creatures take 2d6 desiccation damage a round), but once within the castle such effects no longer affect travelers. That does not mean that Castle Salinus is a safe haven on the plane of Salt, and any berk who assumes that could end in the dead book fast. You see the inhabitants of this castle aren’t humans, or even friendly towards humanoids, they’re a group of renegade baatezu who followed their master into exile. You see the master of the castle was once a duke of Stygia long ago. When Levistus murdered Asmodeus’s lover, and Geryon was granted mastery of the layer, he saw his chance to act. The fiend’s plans fell through, though and he was forced to flee to the ends of the multiverse or face annihilation by the enraged arch-duke. So the former duke, Ghulion, fled to the Inner Planes those realms furthest in the multiverse from the Outer Planes. In the brackish waters of the Saline Sea he found his haven, and there he built, by force of hand and diabolic servitors, the Castle Salinus. Even so he fears retribution from Baator even to this day, despite the death of Geryon and restoration of Levistus to power. With good reason, as Baator is still to this day willing to pay good jink to any cutter that can guide them accurately to the castle. So far the baatezu only know what I’ve told you, it’s somewhere in the Saline Sea, but they don’t know where and that’s just how Ghulion likes it. Their long stay in Salt, though, hasn’t left the fiends untouched. See the energies of the place has left its mark on their bodies. First things first these fiends have developed a resistance, perhaps total immunity, to the desiccating nature of the plane. Whether they’ve lost something to compensate for it or not, I can’t say for certain but from what I know of the planes I’d be a barmie berk to bet against it. In addition their flesh has taken a salt-encrusted appearance, or in some cases a crystalline one, as the elemental energies of the Inner Plane slowly replaces their soul-forged body from Baator. Ghulion himself isn’t unaffected by these changes, though whether he’s been changed more or less than his retainers is unclear. You see Ghulion was always associated with salt and dryness even as a duke, so the change isn’t as readily apparent in him, but I have no doubt that he’s been changed too. Not only has the energies of salt changed the fiends, but their long rebellion against Baator has left them irredeemable in the eyes of the Nine Hells. You see, these fiends aren’t beings of Law anymore. Oh they’ve kept all their evil, they had to do so to survive, but their very existence has been one of rebellion from Law and Order for millennia. Now while none of them have gone over to the other side, and many of them are still lawful, they’d fit in better in Gehenna or the Gray Wastes than Baator. The effects this has had on their powers I can’t say for sure, but you know there’s got to have been some. So why would a berk go to the Castle Salinus? Mistake mostly. It’s a dangerous place, but chant is that it holds a great treasure trove that Ghulion took with him when he fled to Salt. Can’t comment on the dark of it, but I can say enough would be heroes have gone there looking for this treasure that there’s probably some jink to be found there now. Category:Locations on the Quasi-Elemental Plane of Salt